By Anonymous on May 14, 2017 12:30 am We have all been having a great time with our Nintendo Switches, so the crew decides to discuss what games they would like ported to the system.
Recently, Activision announced Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies Chronicles, a new map pack that includes remasters of eight old Zombies maps. Today, the company provided a glimpse of the updated visuals of the first ever Zombies map, World at War's Nacht Der Untoten.
On Twitter, the official Call of Duty account shared a short teaser that reveals a bit of what you can expect when the map pack launches. It shows off some of the most recognizable parts of Nacht Der Untoten, including the mystery box and the stairwell graffiti. Although it's only a short look, it still reveals much-improved lighting and visual effects.
Nacht Der Untoten is one of the more memorable Zombies levels, and its cramped, limited playing space is much different than more recent maps which tend to be sprawling and complicated.
Zombies Chronicles also includes Verruckt, Shi No Numa, and Kino der Toten from World at War, Shangri-La, Moon, and Ascension from Black Ops, and Origins from Black Ops II. It launches on May 16 for PS4. No release date for the Xbox One and PC versions has been announced yet, but Call of Duty DLC typically is released a month later for those other platforms.
A new DLC chapter has been released for Dead by Daylight, the multiplayer survival horror game for PC.
Titled Spark of Madness, the expansion introduces a new killer known as the Doctor, a former medical researcher at a secret government black site who used twisted experiments to interrogate detainees. The Doctor relies on electroshock therapy to attack other players and emits a static field that affects their sanity. The Doctor can also use his electrical attacks to damage generators. The setting for the chapter is a maze-like medical facility called Lery's Memorial Institute.
The Spark of Madness expansion also adds a new survivor named Feng Min. A former e-sports professional, Feng Min can repair generators faster than other characters, and her acute senses can reveal a killer's location.
Dead by Daylight is currently only available on PC, though a PS4 and Xbox One release is on the way this June. The game pits one player in the role of a killer against four others who must outlast and escape the killer's attacks. We gave Dead by Daylight a 6/10 in our review. The Spark of Madness DLC is available now and is priced at $7.
Edmund McMillen, founder of Super Meat Boy developer Team Meat, has been working for the past few years on a seemingly endless number of updates and ports for acclaimed roguelike The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. For instance, the game just launched on Switch, and McMillen recently announced a new patch that adds a bunch of user-created content. But that's not all he's working on: McMillen revealed that he and programmer Tyler Glaiel are close to revealing a completely new game.
Writing on The Binding of Isaac's blog, McMillen teased the new project, saying that he and Glaiel have been working on it for quite a while. "Not many of you know this, but Tyler and I have been in crunch mode for the past 3 months trying to finish this secret project," he wrote. "We are coming close to announcing it and its release date, so keep and eye out for it."
Although McMillen and Glaiel previously announced that they're working on Ouroboros and McMillen is also developing The Legend of Bum-bo, this secret project is most likely something different. In the post, McMillen gave a short description of the game, saying, "It's hard, it's weird, it's personal, it has amazing controls, it's a totally new unannounced IP and it's easily one of the largest games I've ever made, level-wise."
RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch is the latest evolution of the classic park sim series. Launched earlier this year, the mobile game has been a big hit, hitting No. 1 in the free-to-play App Store charts (for a period of time) and subsequently picking up more than 6.2 million downloads and hitting 500,000 daily active users.
GameSpot recently had the opportunity to speak with Atari COO Todd Shallbetter, who told us all about the game's origins, its early days, fan feedback, and a lot more.
Additionally, RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch is getting a number of updates in the coming weeks, including a "full color customization system" that will let players tweak the look of their rides, shops, and restaurants. Another new feature coming is the ability to visit other players' parks, while a "photo booth" mode is on the way that will let you take screenshots of your parks and tweak them further with filters and frames, and then share them on social channels, of course.
GameSpot will have more details on those update soon. For now, you can check out our full interview with Shallbetter below.
GamesSpot: Going back, can you talk about the origins of RCT Touch and what drove your decision to make a game like this? How far back had you been thinking about this?
Todd Shallbetter: RCT Touch has been on our minds for years. It goes back to when we first launched RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile as a free-to-play game in 2014. That game quickly became popular, achieving the number one ranking in the app store in numerous countries. We knew after releasing RCT4M that we next wanted to offer an advanced, mid-core simulation game that would leverage current mobile tech and modern game design. We partnered with Nvizzio Creations and agreed on a modern vision that would be fully 3D, and utilize a card-based game loop at the heart of the experience. This vision helped us to be laser-focused in our execution.
We now cover a full spectrum of mobile experiences under the RollerCoaster Tycoon brand. We have RCT4M that is a 2D, casual simulation; RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic, a premium app developed by original RCT creator Chris Saywer that brings the nostalgia of the initial PC versions; and now RCT Touch, the more advanced, 3D, F2P simulation which fully leverages the tech available with modern phones and tablets.
What kinds of challenges did you face either technically, operationally, or from a design standpoint with the game at the start of development and how did you overcome those hurdles?
There were many challenges. RCT Touch was Nvizzio's first mobile game, and while the team members had plenty of experience in the mobile space, it was still the first collective endeavor for the team. Luckily, they glued extremely well, understood perfectly what the game would become, and worked relentlessly in cooperation with us at Atari to deliver the game that's been enjoyed by millions worldwide.
From a technical perspective, we've been using Unity, as we believe it's the best game engine for the project. We've been building all game systems on top of Unity, including connections to a backend, payment systems, card delivery stems, localization, connections to social networks, a full coaster builder system leveraging 3D splines, a complete simulation… it's a huge amount of work that started from scratch. Working on top of Unity really helped the developers move fast, notably with display, controls, and UI.
The response has been huge in terms of player figures. But as a free-to-play game, can you speak at all about how the game is performing from a business perspective compared to what your expectations were?
RCT Touch was in soft launch for several months while we refined the player experience to make sure we had a good onboarding phase, and then enough content to progress smoothly for a long time. Players have been responding very well to this progression system and while we can't disclose any financials, we can say that RCT Touch has exceeded the mobile simulation category standard KPIs, notably with an incredible long-term engagement. We're very happy with the way the game is performing and it allows us to continue planning for more content and investing in the game.
"Our design philosophy is that in free-to-play, no player should ever be forced to buy" -- Shallbetter on the game's free-to-play business model
Free-to-play games sometimes create controversy for how they handle microtransactions. Why did you elect to make it a free-to-play game and how did you go about structuring the game in such a way that players would not feel as if they were being nickle and dimed, so to speak?
Our design philosophy is that in free-to-play, no player should ever be forced to buy. We're not gating content behind paywalls, and in-app purchases are only a way to get convenient features or speed up the game progression. These purchases are completely optional. We have received positive feedback from players acknowledging this which has helped improve long-term engagement.
More generally speaking, what's some of the feedback you've heard from players and how are you addressing that?
We pay close attention to player feedback, leveraging user feedback from reviews, forums, and our Facebook fan page, as well as reviewing data analytics to get the full picture of what people are experiencing.
First and foremost, we are focused on the technical aspect of the game, as there is nothing more frustrating than loving a game and not being able to fully enjoy the experience. We've had some challenges since the soft launch period related to speed and memory optimizations, as there are many different devices out there on iOS and Android, and being able to offer an ambitious, full 3D experience for most devices is a big challenge. Our development team spent a considerable amount of time to improve speed and memory management and in our previous update we provided a solution to address many of these issues. Looking at the current user reviews, we are proud of the results, but it will be an ongoing effort to keep players engaged.
Additionally, our players have been asking for more customization options for their parks. We have several updates providing interesting solutions to those players' needs.
The launch of a game these days is often just the start--keeping players engaged is important with all the other games and other competing media forms out there. What's in the pipeline for RCT Touch as it relates to updates and new content?
We have a plethora of ideas, and our goal right now is to deliver more content faster. Our players are expressing the need to further customize their parks as they become very attached to their creations. The last update included a full system of ride and coaster color customization. In our next update, we'll be offering a layout edit system allowing players to completely change their entire park layout with very simple moves. As people want to share more and are curious about what other players are doing, we'll also be offering a feature to visit other people's parks as well as a screenshot capture function to shoot, enhance with stickers, and share pictures of their parks on social networks.
After that, we'll have even more to come! We'll be working on competitive aspects with intriguing player corporations (a bit like clans), but we will share more in the near future.
Atari has evolved the RCT brand in recent years with RTC Classic and now Touch. Those have been generally well-received but the new PC game RCT World has faced some criticism. What is the latest there in terms of new update and ongoing support for that game?
We remain committed to supporting RollerCoaster Tycoon World for the long term. Moving forward our focus will be on additional asset generation and bug fixing. We will also continue to support RCTW's Piece-by-Piece system. We are integrating new assets directly into the game making it easy for players to further customize their parks. In our most recent update, we released an Asia pack which users have been enjoying.
The RCT series has a lot of brand power with some age groups but how are you finding it connecting with the younger crowd? Is it resonating as well with people who are completely new to the series?
Indeed! We have many testimonials from players whose kids absolutely adore the game. The theme park resonates well with the younger audience, and the very intuitive, tactile interface works really well with kids.
Kind of a broader question, but what about the RCT series is it that you think has contributed to the franchise's enduring appeal and success? Some other franchises have faded away, but RCT has seemed to endure.
RollerCoaster Tycoon became one of the best-selling franchises in PC game history because the core gameplay of building and managing your own park allowed players to express their individuality and creativity in engaging and fun ways. By creating immaculately precise money-making parks, or simply finding the most extreme ways to torture their peeps, RCT is a playground for players to live out their theme park dreams. Each iteration of the game since the original RCT has built upon the park management sim foundation while creating new and wild amusement park experiences. By adapting the game to new formats, and making sure we respect the core mechanics that make RCT great, we're keeping RCT modern, relevant, and fun.
And looking ahead, do you see PC and mobile as the main platforms for the RCT series? Or do you have any plans to bring the franchise again to consoles or possibly new systems like VR?
We know firsthand that creating a park management sim can be complex, so picking the right platform is critical. We have enjoyed great success on PC and mobile and each platform offers a different type of RCT experience which is something the franchise benefits from. We are not limiting ourselves to only PC and mobile, however, and continue to evaluate other platforms such as console and VR; stay tuned!
Activision released a new trailer for the upcoming PS4 remaster of Crash Bandicoot, and it shows off the lovable Polar in action.
You can check out the short video for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy below. In it, you can see Crash hopping on the bear and running through a snow level. The video gives a glimpse of some of the improved visuals and gameplay that you can expect in the game, as well.
The remaster comes with the first three games in the Crash series: Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back, and Warped. Polar shows up primarily in Cortex Strikes Back, although he has a short cameo in the third game, as well.
The remaster is in development at Vicarious Visions, although Naughty Dog originally made all three games. The level geometry has been retained from the original games, but that's about it: the remaster features fully overhauled gameplay in addition to better graphics.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2017 08:30 pm After 20 long years, Alien: Covenant finally sees the return of the infamous xenomorph to our cinema screens, and to celebrate we're delving into 6 incredible facts about the franchise that you should know.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2017 07:00 am With Alien Covenant's release looming we took some time to think about the best alien movies. Ryan, Greg, Chastity and Buddy discuss their favorite films with aliens in them and hurt each others feelings.
By Anonymous on May 13, 2017 04:30 am A new Mass Effect: Andromeda patch makes changes to cinematics and Sara Ryder's appearance, while only 11% of Americans have heard of Project Scorpio!
By Anonymous on May 13, 2017 03:30 am DC's Atlantian superhero showed off his attacks and combos on a NetherRealm livestream. See them in action right here!
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